US Hybrid Sales Down 6% in July

Maybe because they're sold out?


P.S. Thanks for the Shiney Graphic.

 

Although demand for the Prius does seem to be waning slightly, that massive drop in June simply represents lack of supply. The March, April, May numbers represent 10's of thousands of Hybrids sitting on lots that were sold with most of them being Prius's. But once supply ran out, so did sales.

 

So it's a slow car buying time of the year in a bad economy and there's a loack of supply. Sales might be down.

 

As far as I am concerned demand is not down at all. Toyota has not delivered the hybrids to the USA in the volumes needed so the dealers are marking them up greatly. Try to get a new Prius at below list. You cannot. You can get almost any other car (non hybrid) at lower then MSRP.

 

Two things happening: the first is they are selling every hybrid they have. You can't find hybrids at dealerships. And not just Prius. So "sales are down in July" is, shall we say, misleading. Ah, those agendas.
The second is overall car sales are in a depression state right now, so hybrids probably have a much higher market share right now since it's the only car type people really want.

Hybrid sales are down, but the dealers have sold all their hybrids, and there is an 8 month waiting list. That's the story. We aren't producing enough hybrids to keep up with the demand.

"Hybrid sales are down" has nothing to do with the demand for hybrids. Nothing at all. More to do with the supply.

 

Totally false. You can get Prius's for under MSRP but you you'll have to wait. Not only that, you can get them for under MSRP without port add ons and the other crap that dealers try to push. You just have to look a little.

 

Prius sales in the USA were down 'cause we dealers got 90% reduction in allocation! Toyota said, low supply due to Gen II Battery were not available for Toyota/Lexus cars. Not only Prius, but CamBrids, HiHy's, were also low in supply. We srtaed getting a little more allocation later parts of July.
If we had the "allocation" especially, when Gas prices going upwards of $4 plus per gallon, we would have broken the Prius and other Hybrids, Toyota/Lexus brands all time records !

Panasonic, is supplying the Ford/Mercury HB as well.

 

I'm sorry your dealership had it's allocation cut by 90%. You must have done something to really piss off corporate. This is not generally the case with most dealerships. On average, semi monthly allocations are down about 6%.

 

I dont know where you live, or where you get your prices, BUT....I work in the new car business..as does my wife. She has alot of pull where she works, we were VERY fortunate to get a prius at msrp. (the benifit for us being that we waited only 10 days for a demo unit with 250 miles, otherwise the wait was 3 months plus) There are NO new units available below sticker....at any dealer. Her dealership is the only one in the state selling at sticker, a policy which may well have changed by now. All others are marking them up.

 

SF Bay Area. Toyota of Sunnyvale. They have a long standing company policy of not selling for more than MSRP on any new car no exceptions.

Their allocation is 90+ / month. I have a $500 deposit on a Touring #6 with floor matts(CZ?)

Selling Price: $28,654
Doc Fee: $55
Tax: $2368.49
DMV: $279
Tire Disposal Fee: $8.75
Total: $31,365.24

Which is $150 off MSRP.

The total cost and fee break down is in writing and signed by the dealer. No dealer or port adds



If you do a search on this forum, you'll find others who've already gotten their Prius's as promised without an attempt to add extras or go back on the deal. Further more, if you do a google search, you'll find others not on this forum who've also gotten their Prius. A co-worker who got on the list a few weeks before me just got his and he was charged exactly $150 off MSRP as promised. The actual price was higher than was quoted because delivery went from $660 to $720 so the actual price was exactly the difference.



Assuming they don't suddenly turn around and start screwing customers and assuming the transaction goes well, I'll be plunking down another $500 deposit, refundable, for a place in line on the 2010 at $150 off MSRP. They've already got quite a long waiting list for it.



Craigslist has dealers now offering inbound allocation or in stock units at MSRP. Are they legit? Who know, but last month and the month before, no dealers in the area, except Toyota of Sunnyvale, were advertising at or less than MSRP, and now there are 3.

 

Okay, 150 off of 31K is a little under .5% Basically they sold the car at MSRP and gave you the floor mats for free. Not to say it's a bad deal, but it's not like 6 months ago, when you could expect several percent off of the MSRP. (And certainly not like most cars with deep discounts).

The dealers try not to get a reputation for gouging the customer. Back in late 2003 to mid 2006 when they also had waiting lists, most people could find one at MSRP with a little effort, a few got better deals. I got mine in early 2006 for MSRP and no waiting (technically speaking) by telling a salesman I was interested in one, and then forgot about it until he called a month or so later when an unallocated one in my desired package showed up at the dealer (they got several a month on top of the ones that were pre-ordered).

But the long and short of it, is that Toyota has never been able to supply enough of the Prius to keep the dealer's lots well stocked. Only briefly could you just walk onto a lot, test-drive one, and buy another one right there. The last two-three months the supply has dropped even more, just as gas prices have gone up. Hopefully this month starts an upward trend and they can work to eliminate the backlog before too many people defect to other vehicles (like we did in 2004 when we were told it was a one-year wait).

 

I agree. I think that the report and the reports from the market have to be reassessed. Consider...

From all reports, I'll use our own stores as an example, the Prius is sold out for at least 30-90 days. There may be isolated vehicles free but essentially none on the lots. But sales are down.

The TCH is moving strongly but there are almost always a limited number on any lot. But sales are down.

The HH is VERY highly priced beginning at $37000 so it has a limited horizon in terms of sales. The less expensive FWD version will only be offered beginning with the 2009 MY. Sales are definitely down.

So if demand is strong and sales are down somewhat that tells me that the manufacturer is limiting supply intentionally!! Now why would that be?

Well the price of fuel is higher almost everywhere in the Western world, specifically in Japan and Europe. I'm certain demand is strong and supply is very limited in both areas since NA gets about 2 out of every 3 hybrids made by Toyota. In both places however the price of the hybrids is either higher than here or as in the case of Japan there is no 'export penalty' ( transportation and currency losses ). It's just good business to limit the low priced sales and increase the higher priced ones. By limiting the sales to the US where there is a significant 'export penalty' and keeping those units at home profit is increased.

I've been in this situation in other products/commodities. I'd feel very very confident that Toyota USA is fighting tooth and nail to keep their supply at least close to last year's numbers.

 

Ahhhh the Toyota supply program raises its head here. With a new $22 Million store our Prius, TCH and HH allocations were doubled!!! Even witht he increases all the Prius' were sold well before they arrived. TCH's are not lasting long on the lot.

 

Again, that basically proves my point. You ae basically paying MSRP. AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE THE CAR YET. So yes, $150 off on $30,000.

Here in Maryland you pay MSRP (or more) and WAIT or pay a premium over list.

There is no reason for any dealer to sell a car at even $150 under MSRP when there are waiting lists all over the US and they just need to call the next person on the list. There were not lists six months ago but there are now.

 

I was responding to the quote:

"There are NO new units available below sticker....at any dealer."

and I've suddenly proved your point?????

 

Not so, had 65 in stock sold all of them in May but June ~ July Nor Cal Toyota dealers alocation went down 90% From regular 60 plus allocation a month to only 13! Talked to other Toyota dealers back then and they all unanimously heard from Toyota, due to lack of Hybrid Battery supply from Panasonic,Prius coming in to the states will be drastically reduced.

You can not "Piss Off" Corporate as you put it. We do not surcharge-premium over stickers. Back in May I sold most of in stock Prius at "invoice" plus a few hundread. Thosem dealers that _Mark them up_
probably will incur the Wrath of God, er, Toyota!

Show me your statistic of 6% down and I will send it to Toyota..